iTLAB's initial goal to offset the impact of the coronavirus lockdown on classes merged with Linda’s goals, which included:

• Using VR to display and critique student work.

• Examining a VR collaboration between art and science with Doctor Lloyd Brown, a transplant surgeon from Rutgers.

• Assessing the potential impact of virtual reality on enhancing sculptural installation art.

In September, after coordinating roles and acquiring hardware and software, our efforts turned towards getting the student sculptures converted for use in a fully virtual class environment. We confirmed our method for converting real-world objects into 3D models worked quite well, and the environments we created were not only able to display the converted artwork effectively (see below) but also provided a great deal of freedom over the “installation” of the objects. 

During classes, we watched the students explore VR actions that are impossible in real life, like instantly scaling objects. Sculptures that were normally a few feet in diameter were scaled to 15 + feet in virtual reality with a simple “pinch/zoom” type gesture. Of course, there were challenges, predictably in the areas of comfort and ease-of-use.

• Individual user comfort remains unpredictable. Some take to VR effortlessly, while others experience a range of issues, from feeling “seasick” to claustrophobia. 

• Technical issues from the range of dependencies related to multi-user virtual reality also impact the predictability of the class experience.

But these challenges can be addressed with time and continued resource development. Foremost, our development of in-house expertise will support better training for faculty, while in-person monitoring of VR users will allow us to quickly respond to issues. Improvements in the technology will eventually allow users to interact with their own hands, removing the need to learn controller inputs, which is currently a barrier to easier adoption. Also, better lens resolution, refresh rate, and processing power in the virtual reality hardware will contribute to overall user comfort and immersion. 

Conclusion

The project revealed VR’s transformative potential to enhance studio art education, especially in the face of unprecedented challenges like the coronavirus lockdown. By leveraging tools such as Reality Capture, Sketchfab, and Oculus Quest 2 headsets, the collaboration successfully demonstrated how VR could redefine the creation, display, and critique of sculptural art. The ability to digitize physical sculptures and manipulate them in immersive environments (scaling, rotating, and installing works with ease) opened new creative possibilities and fostered innovative interactions between art and technology. While user comfort and technical hurdles remained significant considerations, the project highlighted the importance of in-house expertise, adaptive training, and ongoing technological advancements in making VR a viable and enriching medium for artistic expression.